THE decision by the UK Government to pause before signing the Hinkley Point contracts and to hopefully rethink the whole deal is to be welcomed (“New nuclear plant is on hold as Tories delay final decision”, The Herald, July 29, and Letters, August 1). There have been several concerns about the deal, namely the untested reactor, EDF’s finances, the Chinese involvement, the cost to the nation of the electricity it will produce and that is before all the arguments over nuclear itself.
The pro lobby would argue that the UK now has its back to the wall in terms of the precarious nature of our energy supply in the decades ahead and that Hinkley is vital in ensuring the lights stay on.
But no country is better placed to capture the renewable power of the seas than the UK. Tidal lagoon or barrage technology is nothing more than a hydro-electric power station set within tidal waters so that four cycles a day power is produced, twice as the tide comes in and twice as it flows out, 365 days of the year. We know in advance the level of the tide (as opposed to wind power that we have no control over or can predict) and there is 12 hours difference between the tides in Cornwall to those in Caithness.
Placed up and down our coasts these lagoons would provide power at different times; as one cycle in one location would fall off as another cycle up the coast would kick in. The technology to build them and run them can be entirely British. Done in conjunction with some more pumped storage schemes, the UK would be well set up in the future with a power generation capacity that would be the envy of the world.
Alex Dickson,
Inverkirkaig, Sutherland.
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